House Bill 1576, also known as the Endangered Species Coordination Act, if passed, would standardize the process that the Fish and Boat and the Game Commissions use to designate species as threatened or endangered in the Commonwealth. It would also call for a change in the process of designating waters as wild trout streams. This bill, supported by different building industries in the state, is also bringing up concerns by the two commissions who are worried that this could put already threatened and endangered species in more danger. State Representative Jeff Pyle, who represents the 60th Legislative District, is the sponsor for the bill. “I found a lot of inconsistencies in how the Fish and Boat and Game commissions were handling threatened species in the Commonwealth,” Pyle said. “All of my life I have lived a couple of miles from the Allegheny River, and I am used to seeing barges moving up and down that river. When they closed the locks, I started digging into it,” Pyle said. “Pool six had an 80 year supply of gravel and sand,” Pyle continued. “It was a good job to support your family, working the dredge boats. When they discovered endangered river mussels, it shut the whole thing down. A power plant was also shut down, which meant no more coal either. For the sake of some river mussels that no one has actually ever seen, giving up jobs is unbelievable. That is what got me going.” Pyle noted that it seems “irregular” that the importance of some species seems to outweigh humans. “I think that is a big over reach of government. Why are we putting anything in the way of people working,” Pyle said. More....

A new species of flying squirrel has been discovered in Laos. The animal is in the genus Biswamoyopterus and has been named Biswamoyopterus Laoensis, it has been suggested that the common name will be the Giant Laotian Flying Squirrel. The animal weighs 1.8Kg and is 42 inches in length, comprised of 18 inches in body length and 24 inches for the tail. For an animal of this size to be discovered is an unusual circumstance to say the least.

Mr. Daosavanh Sanamxay a masters student at Thailand’s Songkla University, is lead author of a paper that was published in the journal Zootaxa. He said, “It is a remarkable discovery for science. It is very rare species with large body size. The specimen of the Laotian giant flying squirrel was incidentally found on display for sale at a bush meat market in Central Lao PDR about a year ago.”

It is an amazing find at such an ignominious place as a meat market. It is expected that the animal was caught by hunters working in the area of the Nam Kading National Biodiversity Conservation Area. This area situated in the middle of Bolikhamxai province has an elevation of between 500 and 1200 metres. The home is known to be home to other unusual and sometimes extremely rare creatures like the gaur, the giant muntjac, gibbons, and many more. Most of this area is only accessible on foot and is extremely poor and underdeveloped. It is an area of outstanding beauty and scientific interest. If not caught in this area, the other possibility would be the Khammouan Limestone National Biodiversity Conservation Area, where a completely new genus and species of rodent Saxatilomys paulinae was discovered in 2005. This area of tower limestone karst landscape is in Binh Tri Thien Province.

The large flying squirrel is predominantly reddish brown in color. It is varigated with white hairs to a different degree. The base of the individual hairs are normally a metallic ash color, changing after 20 mm to a red brown. Then, after a further 15 mm, this ends in a black tip, about 3mm in length. There is, what is described as, a “whitish-gray band, some 6 mm in length, is present in hairs that reside in areas of the upper surface that are extensively grizzled.” More....

The bushmeat markets of Lao PDR (Laos) are filled with racks of wild game harvested both legally and illegally from the surrounding landscapes. While these meat markets certainly provide local protein to patrons, for wildlife biologists they offer something more. These bizarre zoological exhibits are a rich source of information about wildlife populations and wildlife consumption in remote areas.

In September 2012, a team from the National University of Laos surveyed markets in central Lao PDR for squirrels. In one of the many small markets, Master’s student Daosavanh Sanamxay found something remarkable, a single specimen of a flying squirrel previously undescribed to science. The researchers described this newly discovered species in a 2013 Zootaxa publication, giving it the English name: the Laotian giant flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus laoensis).

The Laotian giant flying squirrel is only the second record of the genus, Biswamoyopterus, the first being the Critically Endangered Namdapha flying squirrel (Biswamoyopterus biswasi), known only from a single physical example collected in 1981 in Arunachal Pradesh, India. The new Laotian giant flying squirrel is also the first record of the genus from Southeast Asia.

Though the new species does show close affinities to the Namdapha flying squirrel, it is certainly distinct, differing substantially in color of the body, patagia (membrane between limbs of flying mammals), tail membrane, and tail pelage, as well as size.

"We don't know how endangered this species is... during my second survey in the market, I found approximately 10 dead body of this species in the [freezers\ of the sellers," Daosavanh Sanamxay, lead author and current master’s student at the National University of Laos, told mongabay.com. More....

Cantonese appetites are gobbling up endangered species including the pangolin, giant salamander, wild snakes and owls – facilitated by lax policing and a belief in medicinal benefits.

It’s not yet light, but Mr Qiu of Foshan in Guangdong is busy transferring king ratsnakes from a cage into a sack. He then tips them into a boiling pot.

He’s been running his snake-soup shop for over a decade.

In winter, residents of Guangdong province, south China, pay particular attention to diet and nutrition, meaning the shop is constantly busy. A bowl of piping hot snake soup is a breakfast favourite for many locals looking to ward off the cold. “We Cantonese have always believed that snake meat can treat illnesses, plus its nutritious and keeps out the cold,” Qiu says.

The market for meat from wild animals is on the increase, with restaurants doing good – if under the table – business. Protected animals such as monitor lizards and pangolins are hunted and traded illegally, eventually ending up on diners’ plates.

The reputation the Cantonese have for eating wild animals is well-deserved: the long-standing tradition is a part of the culture in Lingnan (the area covering Guangdong and surrounding provinces). An employee with the Wildlife Conservation Society’s China office said that the Cantonese “will eat anything” – and the most sought-after delicacies are endangered species.

Among the most regularly eaten in Guangdong are: the pangolin, the monitor lizard, the giant salamander, wild snakes, owls and the yellow-breasted bunting. After preparation, an owl can be worth about 1,800 yuan. Pangolins sell for 500 yuan a jin, monitor lizards for about 100 yuan. More....

Hunting wildlife for the pot and for commercial sale is far more widespread than most people realize, and is leading to an ‘empty forest’ syndrome in many parts of the country. M.D. Madhusudan and K. Ullas Karanth conducted a fascinating study on local hunting around two wildlife reserves in Karnataka. These are the results of their study, excerpted from their original scientific paper published in Ambio in 2002.

Mammals that weigh over one kilo are the most prone to hunting by humans.

Their meat and by-products – hide, horn, and bone – make large mammals attractive targets.On the other hand, these mammals are vulnerable to extinction—they naturally require large home ranges and bulky diets, have slow rates of growth and maturation, small litter sizes, long life-spans, and are found in low densities.

Excessive hunting could well push vulnerable populations over the brink.

There are two distinct types of hunting in India:

The first, market hunting, refers to the well-organized hunting of selected species for ivory, rhino-horn, tiger-bone, bear-bile, shahtoosh, etc.

The second, local hunting, is a loosely organized activity, prevalent everywhere. It is driven by local tradition, sport, or demand for wild meat. Local hunting is a big threat to Indian wildlife, since it targets a wider variety of species, and is carried out by far greater numbers of people. More....